Posts Tagged ‘feeding’

I’ve not blogged anything about the fish house in a while, because nothing really exciting has happend, and I didn’t think you be interested in feeding the fish, or bi-weekly partial water changes. To conserve electricity, I shut down six small fish tanks in December 2008 (18inch x 10inch x 10inch, and smaller), they were used as quarantine, and for smaller fish, but more recently I’d increased the fish house, by six tanks, so these weren’t really used a great deal. These four fish tanks, were the first four that started the fish house in 2004. Time for a change.

I’ve had three four foot fish tanks in storage since the fish house move of July 2006. One four foot tank would replace these four nicely!

I’ve cleaned, soak tested it for leaks, and painted the sides white with some spare matt emulsion. It’s not the tidest of fish tanks, but it holds water, ideal for the fish house.

Before – fish tanks that will be replaced

These are the four dirty fish tanks in the fish hosue that will be replaced by one single 48x15x12 fish tank. I just noticed that one of the tanks, has a successfuly breeding colony of snails. Most of the time, I’m trying to get rid of these with Clown andCandy loaches, and have successfully removed all snails from the fish house. I’ll keep these in another small tank, so I can rear them for live food for the loaches. (I’ll regret it later, I’m sure).

After – removed! Fish tanks removed.

wires, and new polysterene required, and a bit of tidy up required before I site the replacement fish tank. That’s another day.

This is my Arcadia ArcTank, it’s the first aquarium I’ve ever purchased that has arrived in a box! But I think that most modern aquariums arrive in boxes these days.

ArcTank 20L Boxed Aquarium

The Arcadia ArcTank includes an ArcPod 9w lighting unit, which contains a built-in reflector which a 9w tube fits into. It also includes an internal filter not shown. I’ve decided to purchase another ArcPod 9w lighting unit because of the plant selection for my aquascape Nano tank, and these plants require lots of light.

Only one ArcPod 9w lighting unit is included, I’ve purchased the second to double the lighting for plants.

To help the plants, I’ve also order a simple CO2 plant fertilisation set from Sera, called Sera Plant Care Kit, it includes

It works by filling a vessel with CO2 from a tablet, which then diffuses slowly into the water. I may have to cut the tablet in half, as this tank is only has a volume of 20L.

I’ve also purchased a Dennerle Boden-Fluter 4 watts substrate heating element and sera floredepot, which is a long-term gravel substrate with growth promoter for freshwater aquariums. I’ve also purchased some aquarium substrate called AquaClay.

Sorry, I’ve been pre-occupied with DIY on the house, but I’ve also spent some time on water experiments for the fish house. I need to store more water for water changes, and the RO unit, which will go live in several months time, so I’ve been plumbing two water containers together.

Whilst on my travels locally, I found a local tropical fish shop, which had a approx 20 Galaxy Rasbora in pretty poor shape, colourless, very thin – considering the current status of this fish, believed to be endangered in the wild, I would not normally have purchased them, but due to recent success of breeding Microrasbora erythromicron and the terrible state these fish were in, I thought they stood a better chance in my fish house, than left in this tropical fish shop. I would have purchased all 20, but parted with only five, if all five survive, I’ll return for more.

They’ve currently gone into a planted quarantine tank, and have started to colour-up instantly, and are feeding well. I’m going to start feeding them newly hatched brine-shrimp from tomorrow.

The Nannacara adoketa are settling in very well, feeding on Tetra Prima, Bloodworm and Diskusin, I’ve not moved them yet from their quarantine tanks. I’ll do this over the next couple of weeks, and will remove the possible pair to a setup, with sandy bottom and old leaves.

I saw a few of my False Zebra Plecos this evening at feeding time, when feeding the Congo Tetras Tetra Prima, it’s the first time in months, maybe ever – I’ve seen them since adding them to the tank in July 2006, I know there in the tank because I can see movement under the bogwood. Maybe now I’ve included some “dither” fish, to the tank, they are happier!

Fish house temperature has decreased recently to just below 20 degrees C, which is unsual because it’s been a steady 23 degrees C average, I found an insulated panel, that was causing a draft since, the aluminium tape had come un-stuck. Fixed with gaffer tape!

I’ve moved all the Sturisoma Aureum young catfish from the spawning tank to the 48″ growing-on tank this evening.

The catfish are growing well, and I’m surprised how large some of the young catfish are in such a short time, feeding on a low protein diet of vegetable matter.

I’ve been ill since Monday 23 Jan with a nasty cold/flu viral bug, so bad I had to take a day off work sick, and slept in bed for twenty-four hours. So I’ve not been paying much attention to the fish, I missed a feed on Friday! So not much to report in the blog!

I’ve been trying to sex the hundreds of Bristlenose catfish Ancistrus sp. I have in the fish house, some have now matured, but I seem to have females, and no males, Males can usually be indentified as they have bristles on their noses and cheeks, but some species of Ancistrus both males and females can have bristle on their noses. I would have expected to see bristles by now.

While I was doing this, I overfilled a water butt in the fish house! I need to find a mop….quickly….

Sorry, no posts this week, I’ve been pulling the late shift again in the office, so apart from feeding the fish in the fish house, I’ve not been doing anything interesting to report on.

The large mature Angelfish with “pop-eye” is getting worse, I’ve been looking at photographs I’ve been taking every few days, and the condition is worse that at the begininning of the week.

I will remove this fish from the display tank tomorrow, and re-house in a small quarantine tank, it is possible that the Polyfilter has removed the MelaFix from the aquarium, as it removes organics. It’s much easier to treat a fish in a smaller aquarium and requires less MelaFix.

I’ve moved another twenty young Sturisoma Aureum catfish into my 48x12x12 growing on tank. I’ve still got plenty of catfish to catch and move, but it’s taking a while to catch them all. I’m still feeding them on spinach, spirulina cubes and Sera catfish chips.